Huge Rally in London Protests Mine Job Cuts

By WILLIAM E. SCHMIDT,

Published: October 22, 1992

LONDON, Oct. 21—
To the cheers and applause of spectators lining sidewalks, tens of thousands of coal miners and their families marched through the streets of central London today, protesting Government plans to reduce the numbers of British coal mines and miners.

Led by a brass band, the marchers stretched nearly three miles around Hyde Park, at the same time Prime Minister John Major and his beleaguered Government were locked inside Parliament in a heated debate over their coal policy.

But late tonight, the Government and its supporters in the House of Commons narrowly defeated an opposition Labor Party motion opposing any plans to close coal mines or lay off miners, by a vote of 320 to 307. The margin underscored the Conservatives' vulnerability, as four Tories deserted the Government. The Conservatives hold a 21-vote margin in Parliament. Major Eases Plan

Despite rising tempers both inside and outside Parliament, Mr. Major appeared to have blunted the worst of the opposition, when he reversed ground earlier this week and pulled back on plans that would have eliminated 31 of Britain's 50 working mines, and more than 30,000 mine workers, within the next five months.

Instead, the Government later declared it intended to close 10 mines over the next 90 days. Today, Michael Heseltine, the minister for trade and industry, told Parliament even those 10 mines would be shut only after a review of their economic viability.

Today's large but peaceful protest march was the latest demonstration of mounting public disapproval and anger with the Prime Minister, who led his party to a national election victory just six months ago but has become increasingly besieged over the last month for his economic and European policies.

A public opinion poll in Thursday's editions of The European, a Paris-based English-language newspaper, reports that nearly four of every five people are dissatisfied with his leadership, and 46 percent believe he should resign.

The newspaper concludes that Mr. Major's approval ratings were even lower than former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's, at the height of anti-tax protests in March 1990.

In addition, this morning's editions of The Times of London carried an article based on anonymous sources that suggested that Mr. Major has become increasingly isolated in recent weeks, depicting him as lonely and cheerless man who is not eating properly, losing weight and, in an effort to improve his wan appearance, tinting his hair.

But aides at Downing Street dismissed the article as "absolute nonsense," noting that it contained several explicit errors of fact.

In addition to reversing his policy on mine closings, in a bid to quell public protest and the specter of a rebellion in Parliament among members of his own party, Mr. Major also suggested a new emphasis in economic policy, telling interviewers on Tuesday he wanted to emphasize growth, recovery and jobs.

The remarks fueled speculation of further cuts in British interest rates, which have been reduced by two percentage points in the last month, from 10 to 8 percent.

Both marchers and opposition politicians argued the Government needed to do more to save the jobs of miners and other workers imperiled by Britain's longest recession since the 1930's. According to employment data released last week, 1 of every 10 Britons is now out of work.

Marchers carried signs that read, "Coal, not Dole," and "Sack Major Not Miners."

In North Yorkshire, about 1,000 construction workers walked off their job at the nation's largest coal-fired power station this afternoon, in a one-day display of support for the miners.